The next major transportation plan is out and PennDOT wants the public to comment on it.
The Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan was released to the public this week, laying out how the agency plans to spend almost $29 billion in the next few years to build “a safe and reliable transportation network that connects Pennsylvanians to opportunities and services,” according to an agency press release.
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Pennsylvania crematories can officially lower standard operating temperatures to save money and reduce environmental emissions.
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the legislation Monday, which drops the temperature from 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit to 1,600 degrees. The small change garners big results, according to the funeral industry.
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Pennsylvania tenants and homeowners may soon get clear legislative guidance overcoming improperly claimed “squatter’s rights.”
On Wednesday, the state Senate OK’d a clear outline for property owners to remove squatters who have claimed rights to a dwelling that conflicts with state law.
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A bill altering the state’s public school funding formula passed the lower chamber Monday, spawning both fanfare and consternation among lawmakers.
While supporters call the plan a victory for students held back by economic disparities, critics point out that 64 of the bill’s 87 pages focus on cutting financial support and tightening regulations for charter schools to save money.
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Senator John Fetterman and his wife Giselle are back home after a brief stay in the hospital following a car accident on Monday.
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Some Pennsylvania legislators want to give tourism activity a boost, adding a formal process for municipalities to develop specific areas.
The idea is that formalizing tourism improvement districts could give towns a way to levy a hotel tax to fund marketing and brand development.
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When questions on land use arise in the General Assembly, Pennsylvania politicians play a game of role reversal. Republicans, generally quicker to defend the free market, stand up for local government control, while Democrats tell of the virtues of the market at work and the dangers of government heavy-handedness.
So it was in the House Local Government Committee hearing on Wednesday as Democratic Rep. Josh Siegel, D-Allentown, proposed the removal of zoning restrictions and Republican Reps. Jack Rader, R-Effort, and R. Lee James, R-Seneca, defended the power of zoning officials.
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A top super PAC supporting the election of former President Donald Trump announced that it would spend $100 million on advertising in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.
The plan was outlined in a document by MAGA Inc. and sent to multiple donors.
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Erin McClelland, the Democratic nominee to become the next Pennsylvania Treasurer, raised concerns about foreign policy, credit worthiness and hackers to explain why she would not use state money to buy Israel Bonds in remarks published Tuesday.
McClelland won her party’s nomination after establishing herself the only candidate opposed to Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s decision to purchase $20 million in Israel Bonds, and in remarks to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, claimed Garrity and other Republicans are inappropriately taking sides in a foreign conflict while neglecting financial and security ris
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One pro-Palestine protestor was arrested on Sunday night after a new anti-Israel encampment was constructed at the University of Pittsburgh earlier that day.
The Office of Safety and Emergency Management at Pitt has confirmed on Sunday evening that the Cathedral of Learning remained “closed until further notice” on Monday due to “a protest in the vicinity” of the building.
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Pennsylvania’s aging population means more residents will be at risk of elder abuse.
That’s why lawmakers want to rework some rules to make it easier for banks to flag suspicious activity and alert law enforcement or trusted loved ones.
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The global news organization Reuters claimed on Friday that women voters in Pennsylvania may now have second thoughts about voting for former President Donald Trump after he was convicted in the controversial New York hush money trial on Thursday.
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Support among Arab voters in Pennsylvania for the campaign to reelect President Joe Biden has collapsed, with former President Donald Trump now polling higher with the demographic, according to polling data released Thursday.
The poll included “900 Arab voters in four key states: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia,” according to the Arab American Institute, which commissioned the poll.
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President Joe Biden on Wednesday began a campaign tour to reach black voters with an event at Girard College in Philadelphia.
Biden began his minority outreach efforts with remarks alongside Vice President Kamala Harris at Girard College, the Philadelphia-based private, independent boarding school for “academically capable students” who are from “families with limited financial resources.”
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Legislation that passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives would name the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) the only entity capable of training school directors, even though the organization has seemingly adopted political positions on school choice and charter schools.
While PSBA is currently the only agency approved by Pennsylvania to provide training for school directors, a Broad and Liberty report notes that HB 1743 would codify its monopoly status into law.
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The Pennsylvania House of Representatives approved legislation that would provide tax credits to businesses that cover childcare costs for employees, with employers able to offset up to 30 percent of the costs.
HB 1958, also known as Incentivizing Employer Contributions to Employee Childcare, passed the Pennsylvania House last Wednesday with 155 votes in favor and 47 against.
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First-time home buyers in Pennsylvania may soon get help from the state government.
Two bills cleared a joint House committee on Tuesday meant to make it easier for buyers just entering the market as record-high housing prices push the dream out of reach for many.
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The anti-Israel encampment at Drexel University disbanded early on Thursday after President John Fry asked the Philadelphia Police Department to assist with clearing the protestors.
After Fry warned protestors the university planned to act shortly before 5 a.m., the encampment was reportedly cleared by noon, with law enforcement telling 6 ABC that protestors “picked up their belongings for the most part and left by their own free will,” and evidence suggested police would “be able to complete this operation without having to make any arrests, any use of force, anything of that nature.”
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Drexel University continues to instruct students virtually on Wednesday after campus buildings were closed or locked down following the establishment of an anti-Israel encampment. In addition to calls to divest from Israel, the activists have demanded the university “[i]mmediately terminate” its chapters of the Chabad and Hillel Jewish community organizations.
Classes at Drexel were virtual for the fourth consecutive day, according to Fox 29. The outlet reported that members of the encampment told the outlet they “will continue to disrupt until Drexel University meets our demands.”
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Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick resurfaced on Tuesday an 18-year-old video that features Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) warn longtime politicians who are unable to secure the U.S.-Mexico border should prepare to offer “a lot of explaining” to their constituents.
The McCormick campaign explained the video was recorded in 2006, when Casey was campaigning against former Senator Rick Santorum.
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Diverse Erie, formerly known as the Erie County Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission, on Friday distributed $300,000 in federal grant money.
The organization restricted the money to individuals that are part of the “BIPOC community,” which includes black, indigenous and all people of color, indicating only whites were precluded from applying for the funds.
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While the City of Philadelphia cleared the homeless encampment from Kensington Avenue on May 6, a report published Friday indicates those who previously lived there have relocated to side streets.
A Philadelphia media notice posted to the social media platform X confirms the city cleared the encampment, however the city also discouraged media from covering the process in a bid to “protect the privacy” of those being relocated.
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Data from Pennsylvania’s April primary election shows more than 16,000 Democrats in Philadelphia chose to write in a candidate rather than vote for President Joe Biden. Of those who wrote in a name, 416 cast their Democratic primary vote for former President Donald Trump.
Primary election data from Philadelphia, provided by the City Commissioners Office and first reported by NBC Philadelphia, reveals that 16,216 Democrats in the city cast a write-in vote for the April 23 primary election.
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The Pennsylvania National Guard confirmed on Wednesday the 26th Infantry Division of the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team is preparing to train soldiers from Ukraine at a military base in Germany.
A news article by the Pennsylvania Guard confirmed soldiers are “preparing for mobilization to the Joint Multinational Training Center to train the Armed Forces of Ukraine” on combat tactics in the German state Bavaria.
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Governor Josh Shapiro introduced updates on May 8 to his administration’s code of conduct that prohibits “scandalous or disgraceful” acts from state employees, a Tuesday Spotlight PA report revealed.
The report noted that Shapiro quietly signed an executive order that changed his administration’s code of conduct for all state employees amid intense public debate over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
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Voter registration reveals Republicans continue to gain ground in Pennsylvania, with Democrats losing a number of registered voters to the opposing party, a Monday report citing Pennsylvania Department of State data.
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania (PAGOP) between the end of March and May 13, gained 10,152 new registered voters, according to Politics PA.
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Video surfaced on Friday of U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) declaring in a political event that it will be “impossible” to lower prices that have increased since President Joe Biden entered the White House.
“I’m not proposing that we’re going to be able to bring these prices down. That’s impossible,” Casey acknowledged in a video posted by Donald Trump Jr. to the social media platform X.
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The University of Pennsylvania confirmed on Friday it called the Philadelphia Police Department to disperse the anti-Israel encampment constructed on its campus, declaring it a threat to public safety for students.
Signed by Interim President Larry Jameson, Provost John Jackson, and Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli, the letter highlighted threats posed by the encampment to normal university operations, including commencement for graduating students.
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Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, estimated there are about 500 protesters who remain at at the anti-Israel encampment constructed at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
McCormick made the remarks following his visit to the Penn campus last week, telling The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show what he witnessed was a “disgrace” and a “travesty.”
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Two polls of Pennsylvania voters released on Wednesday showed former President Donald Trump defeating President Joe Biden. They also showed a statistical tie in the race between U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and his Republican challenger Dave McCormick.
The Muhlenberg College poll released Wednesday found Trump has the support of 44 percent of Pennsylvania voters, giving him a four-point lead over Biden at 41 percent.
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The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Republican Party of Pennsylvania (PAGOP) have filed to intervene in a Butler County lawsuit brought by two voters who want to enable the curing of mail-in ballots returned to election officials without a security sleeve.
The lawsuit was brought by two Pennsylvania voters who submitted mail-in ballots without the required security sleeve. According to their lawsuit, the voters apparently later sought to cure their ballots, but were instead allowed to cast provisional ballots that were ultimately not counted. They filed suit against the Butler County Board of Elections on April 29.
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Governor Josh Shapiro authorized more than 100 flights on the private airplane owned by the State of Pennsylvania in 2023, exceeding the controversial amount of air travel by his predecessor, a Spotlight Pennsylvania report revealed on Tuesday.
The state-owned Beechcraft King Air 350i, which generally sells for between $4.3 million and $6.7 million, was used for 113 separate trips in 2023. According to Spotlight Pennsylvania, the flight time amounted to more than 200 hours and cost the state’s taxpayers $410,000.
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The Dave McCormick for U.S. Senate campaign released a Friday statement castigating U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) for his failure to condemn the antisemitic encampment at the University of Pennsylvania, deriding the Democrat for engaging a children’s television character on social media rather than condemn the anti-Israel protests.
McCormick’s campaign explained their challenge to Casey in response to “Casey’s continued silence on the antisemitic encampments rocking college campuses across Pennsylvania and the country.”
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The Pennsylvania Game Commission looks ahead with a new executive director, but recent turmoil has legislators even more skeptical of the agency’s competence.
The commission has its sights set on tightening up policies and working more with the legislature, but critics want deeper changes.
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State Senator Doug Mastriano on Thursday introduced legislation that would strip state funding from Pennsylvania colleges and universities that become a “safe harbor” for antisemitism in the months since the October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel.
Mastriano introduced SB 1185 in response to the “pro-Hamas and anti-Israel protests and encampments” his office noted “recently took root at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh and other Pennsylvania colleges and universities that benefit from tax dollars.”
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Following his visit to the anti-Israel encampment constructed at the University of Pennsylvania, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick told The Pennsylvania Daily Star Thursday that he will urge senators to “revisit” federal support and tax breaks afforded to top schools if Pennsylvanians send him to Washington, D.C. in November.
McCormick noted that Pennsylvania taxpayers subsidize many schools that boast anti-Israel encampments, either through federal funding or the “huge benefit” of an “enormous endowments” that remain tax exempt.
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State Senator Amanda Cappelletti (D-Philadelphia) claimed as part of a Monday push to create a federal law to enshrine abortion access that 80 Pennsylvania abortion clinics have closed “in a relatively short period of time” since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Cappelletti made the remarks to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, and additionally claimed abortion access has fallen in the commonwealth since the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin County) said that establishment Republicans need to come together during this election cycle to support and elect grassroots candidates and former President Donald Trump to office.
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Pennsylvania may soon join the list of states banning employers from pulling job applicants’ credit scores during the hiring process.
The House Labor and Industry Committee recently approved House Bill 2207, which would outlaw the practice in most circumstances – except for jobs in finance or those subject to specific mandates by federal or local law.
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State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) detailed a series of alleged betrayals by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania (PAGOP), the Republican Governors Association (RGA) and top Republicans in the Keystone State during his 2022 gubernatorial campaign during a Monday appearance on Outside the Beltway with host John Fredericks.
Mastriano told Fredericks that former Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Bryan Cutler (R-Harrisburg), a former PAGOP chair and former Republican Governors Association chair Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) either withheld support or acted against his gubernatorial campaign.
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Pennsylvania-based radio host John Fredericks confirmed he is “strongly considering” a campaign for the Chair of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Republican National Convention (RNC) after a Friday appearance on War Room with Stephen K. Bannon, the former Trump presidential aide who now hosts of the popular War Room program.
Fredericks confirmed to The Pennsylvania Daily Star, “I’m only considering a run for Delegation Chairman due to the outpouring of support I’ve gotten and the number of people that have asked me to run.” He added, “I am going to the convention for one purpose, and that is to make sure that President Trump’s agenda is executed to precision.”
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Partisan divides remain for Pennsylvania’s energy future, but the state’s electric grid keeps posting drops in emissions.
PJM, the 13-state grid that stretches from Illinois to North Carolina, noted a trend that’s continued for two decades: dramatic declines in pollutants.
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Michigan’s top business group says “we can’t get” to the 100% clean energy standard by 2040 without nuclear energy.
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, bipartisan lawmakers and organized labor support restarting the 800-megawatt Palisades nuclear plant on Lake Michigan’s Eastern shore, expected to return online in 2025.
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Local issues loom large in the attorney general race as candidate Jared Solomon praised Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and lambasted Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and the dysfunction within the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office.
Pennsylvania voters will decide competitive primaries for attorney general. Five Democrats are running. The Republican race is two.
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President Joe Biden promised on Wednesday to block the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese competitor in remarks to a crowd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, made up of unionized steelworkers.
The Japanese Nippon Steel Corporation, the fourth-largest steel producer, first announced that it would be acquiring U.S. Steel in December for around $14.9 billion after turning down other offers, including from American steel company Cleveland Cliffs. The president, in his remarks, emphasized the importance of the American steel industry and called out China for subsidizing their own steel producers.
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State agencies across the commonwealth gather data on jobs, employment, and the economy — but they struggle to share it, hamstringing how useful it is.
Legislators have taken notice and are looking to compel some digital cooperation.
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Within 20 minutes of convening to hold an impeachment trial of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Democrats in the Senate steamrolled through motions and voted to dismiss the first article of impeachment brought against him.
Shortly thereafter, they dismissed the second article as well, without ever hearing evidence or conducting a trial.
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As the public awaits more details of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s higher education reform plans, Republican legislators offer some ideas of their own.
During a Wednesday press conference, a gaggle of House and Senate leaders pushed for the creation of a grant program that offers scholarships to students who commit to stay in Pennsylvania. They also want to launch a similar deal for out-of-state students to get in-state tuition if they put down roots in the commonwealth.
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The reopening of a three-mile section of Route 611 through the Delaware Water Gap – shut down since December 2022 due to rockslides – has been complicated by a combination of nature and red tape.
In the meantime, area residents pay tolls multiple times a day along a detour that crosses into New Jersey and business owners struggle to keep their doors open.
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Pennsylvania’s orphan oil and gas well problem has gotten much attention in recent months.
So too has the commonwealth’s legacy of hazardous mine lands. Now, the federal government is sending hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with them.
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